From our condo, we can walk along Nawiliwili/Waapa Road and be on the beach in 10 minutes, however being from Los Angeles, we usually pack the car and drive across the street and park by the Kalapaki Beach Hut...

If you want to walk from/to the parking lot without going through the shopping/restaurant area, you need to cross a small outlet of water at the south end of the beach.

The south end of Kalapaki beach

From the south end, the beach stretches quite a ways north until it hits the rocky boundary where the point to the entrance of Nawiliwili Harbor begins.

Sydney on the "grassy knoll"

There is a grassy knoll (no NOT the JFK one!) that runs along most of the stretch of beach in front of the hotel, which is a nice change from sand to lay your blankets/towels on...

...provided the guests of the hotel and all the sailboats and catamarans haven’t already bogarted all the spaces!!

Kalapaki Beach looking north"

This beautiful sandy beach has many things going for it.

First and foremost, it’s a great swimming beach for the kids...not a big drop-off, and it has a pretty good swell to keep things interesting, but not big enough to really be a danger...

A giant starfish!"

...Sydney likes to be "Queen of the Rock", and "protect" the big black rock "castle" in the shallow water...

Also, the sand is really soft, and the sand closer to the water is prime "castle/sand sculpture" sand.

And for Daddy, it has easy access to the Marriott open air bar by the pool, as well as being a good “sight-seeing” area for all the female tourists showing off their new swimsuits.

The south end of Kalapaki Beach also has a great area where the older kids can kayak, surf (or learn to surf), body board or skim board.

There’s a pretty big reef a little way out, and a smaller one out even farther, and between and around the two, the waves break and there are always surfers out in the water...

He paddles back and forth all day!

...the last two times we were there, the same long-boarder was out there standing on his board with an oar, paddling back and forth for hours on end.

Skimboarder getting ready

We also saw the growing popularity of skim-boarding, which is waiting for a wave to come in...and then running along the beach and throwing a fin-less miniature surf board on the shallow white water and jumping on for a smooth gliding ride into the oncoming waves...

Up, up and away!

...then you ride the board until the receding water hits the incoming wave, at which point the rider either cuts back and rides the wave in, or uses it as a jumping wake to launch themselves up into the air and dive back into the water.

Man , that looked like a LOT of fun...for a kid...not an old guy...still, Daddy’s giving it a shot the next time we go!

Kalapaki Beach is also surrounded by great restaurants and shopping. The Kalapaki Beach Hut, Dukes, and the restaurants at the Marriott are all within a stone’s throw of the beach.

The Blue Anchor shopping center and the ??Mall on Rice street are also within walking distance, as is the shopping stop at the dock of Nawiliwili Harbor that the cruise ships use...

A cruise ship is anchored

...all the major cruise lines use Nawiliwili Harbor to dock at port...

...you can see them coming and going, and they look like a promotional postcard sitting in the water against the backdrop of the cliffs.

On Kalapaki Beach at night

At night, tiki torches light up the area, and the calm, WARM water is a really nice place for a nighttime beach walk.

Sydney thought walking in the water “in the dark, Daddy!” was just about the coolest thing since the Nintendo DS.

Parking, easy access, shopping and dining, plus close proximity to our condo AND the hotel restroom facilities make Kalapaki one of our most frequent stops every trip.

It's also perfect for a last half-day of beach time before heading to the airport!

Pack the essentials, buy some lunch at the Beach Hut, and enjoy a perfect Kauai beach day!!